1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus that discharges ink from recording means to a recording medium for recording.
2. Related Background Art
In an inkjet recording apparatus that discharges ink from a recording head as recording means to a recording medium such as recording paper for recording, ink is discharged from a fine discharge port for recording, which sometimes causes an increase in viscosity or adhesion of ink resulting from evaporation of the ink near the discharge port, or poor discharge resulting from generation of bubbles in the ink in the discharge port. A wiping operation for wiping a discharge port surface or a suction operation for sucking ink from the discharge port may cause different color ink to be mixed into the discharge port to exert a harmful effect of ink color mixing in a recording image. Thus, after the sucking operation, or during a recording operation or recording standby, preliminary discharge for discharging ink from the discharge port toward an ink receiver is performed to discharge bubbles or mixed color ink or the like together with the ink, and thus new ink is injected into the discharge port or poor discharge or color mixing is prevented.
Generally, a recovery mechanism portion (a maintenance portion) for recovering and maintaining ink discharge performance of recording means is provided in an inkjet recording apparatus. A known recovery mechanism portion of an inkjet recording apparatus that uses recording means mounted on a carriage for recording on a recording medium is such that a slide member on which a cap is mounted is moved along a slider cam portion following a movement of the carriage, and thus the cap is brought into close contact with the recording means for capping. Such a recovery mechanism portion advantageously requires no separate drive source for capping, uses a small number of components, has a simple configuration, and achieves an inexpensive recording apparatus.
Specifically, in the inkjet recording apparatus including the above-mentioned recovery mechanism portion, when the carriage enters the recovery mechanism portion from a recording area, a side surface of the carriage abuts against an abutment portion of the slide member to cause the slide member to follow the movement of the carriage in an entering direction. At this time, the slide member slides along the slider cam portion provided in a recording device body and is raised while moving together with the carriage. Then, when the slide member reaches an uppermost portion of the slider cam portion, the cap mounted on the slide member comes into close contact with a discharge port surface of the recording means to cap the discharge port.
When the carriage reverses its moving course and starts to move toward the recording area, the slide member starts to be lowered along the slider cam portion, and the cap starts to be separated from the discharge port surface of the recording means. When the slide member reaches a stop position at a lowermost portion of the slider cam portion, the carriage is separated from the abutment portion of the slide member, and enters a standby state with the stop position of the slide member being a standby position. Then, when the carriage is in the standby state, required preliminary discharge is performed such as preliminary discharge during standby of the carriage, preliminary discharge during a recording operation, preliminary discharge during a sheet feeding operation, or preliminary discharge after wiping the discharge port surface.
In the above-mentioned recovery mechanism portion, the preliminary discharge required for cleaning (ink refreshing of) the inside of the discharge port in the recording means is performed in the standby position of the carriage at the lowermost portion of the slider cam portion. Thus, it is advantageous that the preliminary discharge is performed during the recording operation in a nearest position to the recording area to reduce an operation time, and the carriage does not abut against the slide member to reduce noise and loads of the carriage.
However, a vertical distance between the discharge port surface of the recording means mounted on the carriage and the slide member placed at the lowermost portion of the slider cam portion is larger than the distance of other positions in the slider cam portion, and ink that is discharged but not dropped into the cap (a cap absorbent) is suspended in the recording device in fine mist. The suspended ink may adhere to components of a conveyance mechanism or trays of sheet feeding and delivering mechanisms in the recording apparatus, and transferred to the recording medium, thereby causing contamination. The ink in fine mist may be distributed out of the recording apparatus to cause the ink to adhere to a desk on which the recording apparatus is placed or peripheral equipment.